ROBINSON LOOKING FOR CHAMPIONSHIP HAT-TRICK

Reigning Australian V8 Dirt Modified Champion Mark Robinson will be looking to complete a rare hat-trick of Championship wins at this weekend’s Australian V8 Dirt Modified Championship at the Lucas Oil Lismore Speedway.

Robinson, 34, won his first Australian Championship in Brisbane in 2005, and was also successful in 2012 (Avalon) and 2013 (Brisbane). He will join Stuart Herne , Tim Morse and Peter Britten as the winner of three consecutive Championships should he find success on Sunday night.

“To win three in a row I’d say our chances are up there,” he said. “ If we can get through the qualifying heats and get through the first night unscathed we are in with a good shot.”

Title preparations have been anything but ideal for the second-generation Lismore racer, with engine problems plaguing him early in the season.

“We had a fuel pump fail in Lismore, we got the engine fixed and went up to Maryborough and broke a rocker. But hopefully the engine issues are out of the road now, the old Ford she’s getting a bit tired.”

Now one of the veterans in the field, Robinson admits to being much more comfortable heading into this weekend’s Championship than he has been in years past.

“That pressure is always on to win your first Australian Championship. But once you’ve got one, well that pressure is all gone and we are treating it as just another race and take it as we normally do.”

He credits the change to a Troyer chassis three years ago as one of the main factors behind his recent Australian Championship successes

“The Troyer defiantly suits the way I drive and it’s worked out well for us. It’s a move that took a lot of time to make, it was a hard decision to make but it was well worth it,” Mark explained.

While reluctant to single out any one driver as his main threat, Robinson expects lapped traffic will play a major role in determining the winner this weekend.

“You can be the quickest car out there but if you can’t get through the lapped cars you are virtually the slowest car,” he said. “ If you’ve got a car that’s not the quickest on the night but you negotiate the lapped cars then I think that’s the guy who is going to be holding the chequered flag at the end.”